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In early May, the US Border Patrol apprehended approximately 493,000 people who allegedly crossed the southern border illegally since the beginning of the exercise.
"This trend shows no signs of slowing down," an official from the Department of Homeland Security told reporters.
In 2009, the agents carried out 540,865 arrests on the southern border for the entire year. Since then, every year since then, apprehensions have remained below half a million.
Since the beginning of April, nearly 132,000 people have been apprehended by Border Patrol agents.
"What makes these figures so radically different from everything we have been confronted with in the history of the border patrol, is demographics," said the official. There is still a record number of families and children arriving mainly from the countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador located in the northern triangle, with more than 58,000 family members arrested at the southern border in April.
About 8,800 unaccompanied children were also arrested last month.
The high number and demographic composition of migrants arriving at the border is causing "serious concern," the official said.
According to the official, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Health and Social Services, which is responsible for caring for unaccompanied migrant children, do not have enough beds to cope with apprehensions, which forces migrants to be detained for long periods. term detention facilities.
"This is dangerously increasing the time spent in detention and poses serious and significant risks to the security of both" agents and migrants, "said the official.
In addition, the Border Patrol has handed more than 32,000 family members to non-governmental organizations and bus stations.
"We know that the continued release of family units will only increase the pull factors, but we have no other option," said a DHS official, who said added that "the number of beds for a single adult is now a critical issue".
ICE has also released 168,000 family members from custody since 21 December 2018 and has mobilized staff and resources to participate in the border mission.
"This change obviously has a negative impact on our public safety efforts," ICE interim director Matthew Albence said Tuesday. "Unfortunately, these officers are no longer there to take custody of these people or make these arrests."
Albence said the "most significant" ICE statistics on the application of civilian immigration are all down double digit this year.
"In fact, the number of criminal arrests that we have condemned has decreased by 14%, a direct result of the obligation to support what is happening at the border.Although we continue to talk about border crisis, it's more than that, it's a crisis for this whole country, "he added.
To cope with the influx of migrants, the Customs and Border Protection Service has also transferred "a large part" of its staff and resources to the southern border, including 545 customs officers from the ports. Entrance and 325 agents from other places.
Currently, between 40% and 60% of the Border Patrol's staff are dedicated to the care, feeding, treatment and surveillance of migrants in hospitals, according to DHS officials.
The Border Patrol also canceled the training, increased the number of overtime, reduced the "special forces" and closed the checkpoints.
The director of the Refugee Resettlement Office, Jonathan Hayes, warned lawmakers at a hearing in the Senate Wednesday of these consequences if the program does not receive additional funding shortly.
"Without additional funding, it is likely that the UAC program will exhaust all its resources in June, in which case HHS may need to reallocate more funds from refugees and victims of trafficking and torture and reduce its funding. services, "said Hayes. in his statement to the Judiciary Committee.
"In the worst case scenario, thousands of children could stay for long periods in DHS facilities that were never designed to be long-term shelters, instead of being quickly transferred to HHS custody, where they would receive case management and other services that meet their unique needs, "he added.
About 8,700 unaccompanied children were delivered to the office last month, more than double the number of children compared to the previous April, a senior agency official told CNN. The number of apprehensions at the border is not a direct correlation, but it still has an impact on the capacity of HHS facilities.
The additional request recently sent to Congress by the White House called for an increase in accommodation capacity to accommodate the high number of unaccompanied children.
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